Nice boys don’t play rock’n’roll

I got to Alcatraz this time around, it’s probably the best ‘audio-tour’ thing i’ve been on. Of course the views on the ferry to and from were great also.

Most of the week was, understandably, tied up with work. Some good presentations during the day, and a days course on Product Management MRD (Requirements That Work) which really was excellent. The instructor had some awesome anecdotes (true or not) that really got you thinking about the requirements process. For example, take the zero gravity space pen. Legend has it that after they discovered that the bog standard ball point pen wouldn’t work in zero G environments, NASA spent millions of dollars developing the aforementioned space pen. Of course, when you look back at the potential product goals and use case (enable astronaut to write in space), it is penned that the Russian Cosmonauts simply used a pencil. An example of over thinking? Maybe…

On the day I had free and after hitting Alcatraz, a colleague and I hired a couple of mopeds and spent 5 or so hours cruising around the city, There is a handily signposted ‘scenic drive’ around that takes you past the obvious places (Fishermans Wharf, Golden Gate Bridge) and out to the not so obvious (names escape me now).
I also managed to go to the late-opening Apple store about 4 times in the week, further tempting myself with the Macbook… I held strong, I’ve still got a feeling about an announcement this month..

Finally, the Wednesday evening 5 of us hired out a practice room and some equipment (drums, keys, bass, axes, mics, amps..) and had ourselves a wicked little jam session. None of us having played together before, it was none too shabby. Belting out such classics as Hold The Line (Toto), Run To You (Bryan Adams), Paradise City (GnR) and also a sweet rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody, intertwined with some ‘freestyle’ 12 bar blues and failed attempts at other tracks (Sweet Emotion, Don’t Fear The Reaper).